It is known from the prior art that in the framework of a production and filling process for containers these containers are handled in widely differing ways and further elements are attached to these bottles, such as for example labels or closures, or a beverage is also poured into them. In this case it is frequently customary that at the beginning of a process it is established how many containers will be produced and in the framework of the method the attempt is made to use the correct amounts of material for this. The material is supplied to the machines in filling and packaging lines in such a way that all the products to be processed are conveyed from a magazine to the location of the processing by way of a conveying unit which has a specified reservoir. This applies in particular for all countable piece goods, such as for example pre-forms, closures, labels, printed shrink films, containers, cardboard blanks, intermediate layers or empty pallets. In this case it is also known that the supply of individual pieces takes place from a magazine without gaps, it being possible for this magazine to be understood as being an individual machine. This applies for example to pre-forms, closures, cold-glue labels, cardboard blanks, intermediate layers or empty pallets.
In addition, it is also known for the supply of materials—which are introduced in bulk onto a conveying unit, such as for example a roll—to be carried out without gaps even if the conveying unit in question has to be changed. This applies for example in the case of plastics-material wrap-around labels, sleeve labels, shrink films and Henkel foils. In this case it is further known to change packaging means of this type optionally when changing the conveying unit by automatic adhesion during continuous operation of the machine. It is usual for the processing procedure to be carried out with a reduced capacity.
The supply with the actual product, i.e. the charged product, such as for example a beverage, is carried out through a tank which can likewise be understood as being a magazine. In this way all the materials are stored in one magazine and are conveyed by way of a suitable conveying unit, which has a specific holding capacity, to the location of the processing. In the case of the liquid, pipelines for example may be involved.
In this case the problem arises that losses in production time arise in the event of a change of product or even a change of rolls. In order to carry out supply activities of this type on the machine as far as possible without a loss in production time, consideration has been given to enlarging the magazines in question in such a way that the number of such procedures is minimized. In addition, it is known for magazines of different or the same type to be set up centrally at a location in order to centralize incoming work activities.
To this end it is nevertheless necessary that the conveying units to be used should contain large quantities or piece numbers of the goods in question. In addition, it is also known, in the case of individual applications with automatic changing, to store mass conveying units such as rolls in magazines in such a way that the equipping procedures of mass conveying units are additionally reduced in terms of time. On the other hand, however, magazines or conveying units of such size are difficult, in particular in the event of a change in the production programme in the line, since large magazines or reservoirs in conveying units have to be emptied at the end of the processing procedure. On the one hand this procedure requires a relatively large amount of time and on the other hand the packaging materials and charged products in question can possibly no longer be used and have thus to be regarded as scrap.
DE 102 36 241 A1 discloses a filling apparatus for capsules, in particular medicinal capsules.
DE 33 32 117 T1 discloses a labelling apparatus for the application of labels to articles, in which the labels are cut from an endless strip and a continuous supply to the labelling station should be possible without interruption of a carrier tape or carrier strip carrying an uninterrupted sequence of adhesive labels.